


Opposites attract

by Elrin



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 1987)
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:53:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27657790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elrin/pseuds/Elrin
Summary: Shredder tricks April into a relationship in order to gather information about the turtles, but later he realizes things won't be as easy as he had imagined. (1987 series)
Relationships: April O'Neil/Shredder (TMNT)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Opposites attract

“Oh, how I hate bank administration!” April O’Neil thought angrily, as she was sitting in the hall of the bank. It always took so much time to get things done. Not to mention that she had just arrived back from a trip involving her job, and she had her luggage with her too. She was tired and wanted nothing but to go home and rest. 

As she was waiting for her turn, she looked around. She noticed a tall, handsome, Asian man in a black suit, standing nearby. He checked his watch, sighed, then sat down and picked up a magazine from the table, with a bored expression on his face.

Now at least April had something interesting to look at while waiting for her turn. Not only that, she suddenly felt an urge to approach the man. She still had many people in front of her in the waiting line, so she had time. “Excuse me, would you be so kind to watch my stuff while I get some drink?”

The man looked at her, and his eyes widened for a few seconds. He recognized her instantly. She, however, had no idea who he was. After some hesitation, he answered.

“Yes,” he nodded seriously.

April thanked him, and headed to the vending machine, smiling to herself. Upon closer look, he was well built, older than her, and seemed serious. She liked that. When she returned, she didn’t hesitate to continue the conversation with him.

“The waiting line’s always crazy here, isn’t it?” she chatted while holding a soft drink in her hand.

“I think so.”

Another polite nod, but this time accompanied with a smile. The ice started breaking, it seemed.

Shredder would have never imagined that one day he would meet with April in a place like this. He had evil plans, which needed to be brought to fruition, and he didn’t want to waste his time on such trivial things like bureaucracy. But whether he liked it or not, as a citizen, he too had ordinary, day-to-day things to get done. Despite his aggressive and anti-social personality, Shredder was able to act like a normal person, and melt into the crowd when he found it necessary.

“Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m April O’Neil,” she continued.

“Saki Takahashi. Pleased to meet you,” he said, and smiled. Obviously, he wasn’t going to reveal his real name to her. He was also glad that during their encounters as enemies, his helmet distorted his voice, so she wasn’t able to recognize his voice either.

“ _That sounds Japanese,”_ April thought.

“You’re the reporter of channel 6, right? I knew you were familiar somehow.”

“That’s right.”

A devious plan began to form in Shredder’s mind. April was clearly interested in him, and she didn’t know his real identity. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage, since the situation was more than convenient. Use her as a tool to attack the turtles, to learn their secrets. And to kill Splinter, too. He had kidnapped her many times, but he hadn’t thought of seduction before. Since it was she who approached her, to let this opportunity slip seemed foolish. She was indeed pretty, he had acknowledged that, but he didn’t care much about it before.

He turned to face her fully, put a charming smile on his face, and went into flirting mode. What started as a boring Monday suddenly became very much promising.

*

The plan worked perfectly, and Shredder silently congratulated himself. They started meeting, and soon began a romantic relationship. All the while, he managed to pry out some information from April about his enemies. He avoided being too obvious about it of course, and he was intelligent enough to make the right deductions.

There was one problem, though. He refused to admit it first, but eventually, he couldn’t deny it anymore.

April had grown on him during these months, and he caught himself not wanting to end the romance. That feeling was somewhat new to Shredder, an unexpected turn of events. Already he was walking a precarious line. He was aware that if she discovered who he was, things would get hopeless between them.

And the time he had feared came soon enough. True to her persistent nature, April managed to sneak into one of their hidden bases, to video Shredder’s activities for her report. He and Krang planned to steal a large amount of the city’s energy, causing a massive blackout. Before she could call the turtles and do any serious damage, she was discovered, and was cornered by the ninja.

“As you know, Miss O’Neil, it’s useless to resist,” he mocked, while approaching her slowly. He clearly enjoyed their usual game.

“You never show your face. Hiding behind that mask is lame and cowardly,” she shot back. If she could somehow knock the bastard’s helmet off…

Shredder just laughed at that. He knew well that she wanted to taunt him to reveal his real identity just to sell the info to the TV. Splinter was the only one who knew how Shredder looked. 

Before he could grab her hand, she slammed her palm on the light switch next to her, and that caught Shredder by surprise. She didn’t waste any time to grab his helmet and pulled it off. When she turned the lights back on, and recognized his face, her heart skipped a few beats, and her eyes widened in shock. She wanted to say something, but her mind just froze.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you speechless,” Shredder mocked.

He pretended that he didn’t care, but at inside he was angry at himself, that the reporter managed to reveal his identity with such a simple trick.

“You…Shredder…how…why?” April stuttered.

“Continue to call me Saki. We’ve already been intimate enough for that, haven’t we?” he said with a boastful grin.

“What you’ve been doing is lower than low!” she spat. “Don’t think you’ll get away with this!”

“Who said we must end our relationship?” Shredder smirked.

“Are you kidding?” April yelled. “You’re our enemy...a criminal...a murderer!”

“Not your enemy. Only Splinter’s and his sorry bunch,” he shook his finger in dismissal. “You may hate it, but the truth is, we’re good together,” he leaned forward to kiss her. She pulled back, but he gripped her and gave her a kiss.

“You should have been more careful when you flirted with a stranger. You may never know who that person really is,” he laughed.

Before she could retort, Krang appeared on the monitor behind them.

“What’s the delay, Shredder?” he demanded. “Everyone’s waiting on you.”

“Stop patronizing me already,” Shredder snapped at the alien, and narrowed his eyes in anger.

“Then give me results,” Krang said in a whiny voice, crossing his arms.

The ninja just gritted his teeth, then turned back to April. She wanted to run away, but he quickly grabbed her arm. He firmly but gently led her to a nearby chair and tied her wrists.

“I apologize for the not-so-warm-welcome, Miss O’Neil,” he said, and April couldn’t figure out whether his tone was cynical or sad.

Shredder also reached into one of her pockets, and took her turtlecom out, only to smash it to pieces. He quickly turned and walked up to a console, all the while barking insults and commands at Bebop and Rocksteady when they entered the room.

“Let me go, you bastard! The turtles will find you anyway, they always do!”

“You’ve seen my face, you know who I am. And you work in TV. Not what I’d call a lucky combination…but if you have a solution, I’m eager to hear it.”

She just glared at him and pouted her lips. Shredder just shrugged and got back to work. He didn’t have time for the drama now.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw her wiping her eyes from silent tears. That made him feel a little guilty, which was completely out of character for him. Normally, he wouldn’t even have cared, but this was different, completely different.

Surprisingly enough, he and Krang could finish their work without the turtles intervention.

“Alright Krang, mission accomplished. I’ll return to the technodrome shortly,” Shredder stated triumphantly.

“Excellent work. It’s good to see that you’re still capable of not screwing things up,” Krang mocked and laughed.

“Someday, you’ll regret those words,” Shredder hissed.

Now he only had to decide what to do with April. Her face was wet from crying, being completely heartbroken. As he approached her, he even noticed fear in her eyes. Against his better judgement, he decided that he took the risk and didn’t take her with him to the technodrome. Krang had probably thought of ways to dispose of her permanently, and he wouldn’t allow that to happen. The alien didn’t know anything about the two of them being together, since Shredder considered this a private matter.

He sprayed sleeping gas on her, without saying anything. He didn’t want her to be awake, he didn’t want to talk about his decision. He was already mad at himself that he let his emotions control him to such length, but he couldn’t help it.

He took April in his arms, and left the hideout. He brought her to her apartment, and placed her on the couch. His plan had backfired. It wasn’t the first time it did, and it wouldn’t be the last. Who would have thought that he and April made such a good pair? He was watching her for a minute, then left. But not before removing the tape from her camera.

*

Following the incident, April avoided reporting anything about Shredder and his gang like the plague. She had decided that she didn’t tell the turtles anything, things were embarrassing enough already.

But there wasn’t a single day when she didn’t think of him, and the more she was thinking about what happened between them, the more she thought that the affection wasn’t just an act on Shredder’s part. This must have been the reason that he had released her: that he really had feelings for her. He had been constantly calling her Miss O’Neil, for one. It just didn’t make much sense that he’d be so polite with an enemy. Especially knowing that Saki cursed a lot. There were times when he even called her pretty and bright. Kidnapping her regularly, even when it was unnecessary.

At night, she'd started not sleeping well, because she was missing him, but at the same time, she hated herself for it. She finally decided that this couldn’t continue after she had couldn't sleep for 2 days in raw.

*

Shredder on the other hand took all of it a lot better, continuing his evil scheming. Although not really the same way as he did before.

Krang even berated him that he had been doing a half-assed job lately, sending Bebop and Rocksteady out to do most of the work, without him being directly involved. That resulted in a higher percentage of failed missions, of course. Every time Shredder went out for a mission, he hoped that he wouldn’t run into April. But he knew her fiery spirit all too well, and it was only a matter of time before she appeared again, to fight side by side with those annoying turtles. Even when he had kidnapped her before, he didn’t hurt her, and he didn’t intend to do so now.

Back at the technodrome, he was practicing ninjutsu in the training room. In moments like this one, when he was alone, it took quite a bit to keep his mind from wondering back to her, and to focus.

It wasn’t much later that Shredder caught himself watching Channel 6 with April in it. The report with her had ended long ago, but he was still looking at the screen, lost in thoughts. She was the first person who totally took his self-control away. He decided that he would seek her out sometime later, after he and Krang managed to get the city under their control.

*

Shredder arrived to his home in the city a few days later, his head aching from the argument he just had with Krang. The alien had been a real pain again. He wanted nothing but to be left alone, and rest. That didn’t happen though. Suddenly, Rocksteady jumped in front of him, and yelled excitedly:

“Look, boss! We’ve captured the girl.”

Fearing the worst, Shredder followed him into the living room. Just as he had suspected, it was April, her hands tied behind her back, and Bebop standing beside her, making it sure she doesn’t run away. Shredder was in disbelief. He certainly didn't expect that to happen.

“She was lurking around the house,” Bebop said.

“Release her at once, and leave her alone!” Shredder shouted angrily at his subordinates as he cut the ropes off her wrists. “Now get out of my house, idiots!”

The two henchmen quickly retreated, bickering among themselves.

“What’s his problem?” Bebop asked confused, raising his hands. “He has always ordered us to kidnap the girl.”

“The boss has gone nuts lately,” Rocksteady answered simply.

Shredder got his helmet off and tossed it on a nearby table. April noticed that he had let his hair grow longer, his locks falling forward on his forehead, making him even more attractive. He stood in front of her with a bitter expression on his face.

“What are you doing here?” he asked coldly. “I thought you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“I just…wanted to see you…,” she said with sad eyes, struggling to find the words. She found the man in front of him intimidating, knowing what he was capable of, but at the same time, she was drawn to him even if she knew how crazy that was.

“I see.” Shredder said simply.

For a few seconds she didn’t respond, then hugged him instead. He hugged her back, and realized how much he had missed her.

*

The holocommunicator started beeping in the darkness. Shredder woke up, and searched blindly for it on the bedside table.

“What took so long? I’ve just-“ Krang said in his usual annoying, whiny voice, when he suddenly cut himself short. He gasped, then yelled. “Whaaaaat?!”

Shredder was about to shot back, but then he realized what Krang was talking about. Beside him, April got herself up in a half sitting position, and looked at them sleepily. The only problem was that they were both naked, and April revealed too much of herself, the light of the holocommunicator illuminating her.

“Shredder!!!” Krang yelled, completely outraged.

This woke April up fully, and she hastily covered herself with the blanket, blushing deeply.

Shredder got up, and left the room in a haste.

“Cover yourself with something, for crying out loud!” Krang continued yelling.

“You’re the one who called me in the first place, genius!” Shredder fired back, while pulling his boxer on.

“So, care to explain why that troublemaker reporter is in your bed?”

“It’s none of your business. Now spit out what you want!”

“She’s our enemy!”

“Enough already! It’s a complicated situation, you see. I’ll tell you about it later.”

Not much later, when Shredder ended the call, he saw April walking up to him.

“Shredder, I know you and that freak are up to something again,” she told him disapprovingly.

“What if we are? What can you do to stop me?” he mocked, putting his hands on his hips.

“Oh, plenty…” she said in a seductive voice, and winked at him.

“Damn,” he said, defeated, as she pushed him on the nearby sofa.

*

April was very surprised the next day, when Shredder casually walked into her Channel 6 office, dressed in his businessman attire. Quite a bold move from him, but since he looked like a businessman, he didn’t stood out much from the crowd.

“Shred—I mean Saki!” April yelled. “What are you doing here? Have you come to spy on us?” she added suspiciously.

“As much as you’ve been spying on me and Krang,” he waved dismissively. “We should go out for dinner tonight. That’s why I’m here.”

“Aren’t you too busy for that? You’ve wrecked quite a chaos yesterday,” she frowned. “I bet Krang won’t like that either.”

Unfortunately, she couldn’t prevent Shredder from returning to the technodrome yesterday. He only arrived a few hours late after he and April had some fun, which outraged Krang even more.

“I don’t give a damn about what Krang says on the matter,” he said seriously.

*

“Saki?”

“What’s wrong?” Shredder asked, while picking up a sushi with his chopsticks.

An hour later, they were sitting in a fast food restaurant near the window. April berated him for the crime he and his henchmen committed yesterday.

“It wasn’t that bad. You’re exaggerating. It comes with being a reporter, right? It was Krang’s idea, if that makes you feel better,” he teased.

She shook her head in annoyance.

“Saki, this has to stop.”

“Not until I get the power I want _and_ deserve.” he answered haughtily.

He let out a short, sinister Shredder laugh.

“Why do you follow that crazy alien Krang anyway?” she scolded.

“Your boss isn’t better either, from what you’ve told me, he must be a real jerk,” Shredder retorted. “Krang gives me invaluable tech and weaponry.”

Shredder’s mobile phone suddenly started ringing, and he picked it up with a tired expression on his face.

“Excuse me,” he said to April, then began speaking in Japanese.

It was a nice language, and hearing him speaking it always turned April on. She couldn’t wait for them to get home…It also amazed her how easily he could transform into a polite businessman from psychotic Shredder.

Shredder ended the call and looked at her with a smug smile. It seemed that he had already noticed April’s attraction to the language. Good. Another thing as means to keep her with him.

April started a long train of thought about her career choices. She had never thought a day would come when she and Shredder sit together in a fast food restaurant and she her heart to him, but here they were.

“….then I realized...I shouldn't focus only on the turtles,” she explained. “As a reporter, there are so much more things to look into!”

“Good point,” Shredder simply said. “And that way you’ll get off my back too when I’m fighting the turtles.”

Before she could retort, Shredder’s eyes widened as he noticed Rocksteady and Bebop outside the street, waiting for him.

_“Oh no. Those clumsy cretins…what are they doing here?” he thought._

The mutants had apparently brought his new, secret weapon with them, for God knows why. His blood pressure immediately reached extreme heights. He exited the restaurant and confronted them. April quickly followed him, being curious about what was happening.

“Idiots! Morons! Have you really brought this here, in front of her?!” Shredder was raging. It took all his willpower not to kick them right there and then.

“Um…you see, boss…,” Bebop began.

“We had to bring it here, ‘cause there was a little accident…and we thought it would be best if we bring it to you for safekeeping.”

“But Krang will tell you the details later,” Bebop added, and shrugged.

Shredder slapped himself on the head in annoyance.

“You can’t tell about this to the Turtles...” he turned to April, his voice worried and angry at the same time.

“Can’t I?” April teased, and raised her eyebrows.

“I’ve been working on this device for 2 weeks straight!” yelled the ninja, panic creeping into his voice.

“Where do you get this much free time anyway?”

“That’s the point: that I don’t. I warn you, April, I’ll be very angry if you reveal my plan to them,” he threatened her and raised a finger. “No more speaking Japanese…no more...sleeping together.”

Then he realized the two mutants were here too, and he shouldn’t have said the last part out loud. Rocksteady and Beebop looked at each other and shrugged. The boss has indeed gone nuts.

 _“This is starting to get awkward, not to mention hilarious,”_ April thought _._ It seemed that Saki’s IQ had the tendency to drop by several points when he was around his lackeys.

“Alright, Saki,” she said and crossed her arms. “You’ve convinced me.”

“Thank you,” he answered, and the smug smile returned.

“You two! Get out of my sight, and don’t you dare to talk to me today!” Shredder shouted to the mutants.

As he and April were walking home, she suddenly turned to him.

“Gohan wa dou datta ka?” [How was the food?] April asked in Japanese, with an innocent look on her face. 

“Oishikatta,” [It was tasty.] Shredder said casually, and it took him several seconds to realize that she just spoke to him in Japanese. “Ah...sou ka. Nihongo wo benkyou suru,” [Oh, I see. You've been studying Japanese.] he grinned. “I’m impressed.”

Finding the language nice wasn’t the only reason April started learning it, though. When they began meeting months ago, Shredder said that he was a businessman, but after his real identity was revealed, April thought it was only a lie. Well, it wasn’t, and that took April completely by surprise.

_“Who did you talk to?” April asked a few weeks ago, when she heard Shredder talking on the phone in Japanese._

_“My employee.”_

_“You mean the foot soldiers?” she asked, puzzled._

_“No,” he smirked. “I have a “normal” job you know…I’m a businessman, owning a small company.”_

_“Really? With all your world domination ambitions and evil acts, it’s hard to imagine you as a businessman. Which company is that anyway?”_

_“You don’t need to know everything, April. All I can say is, I’m in the electronics business. But I’ve never intended to be an ordinary salaryman, which is a dead bore…conquering the world is much more interesting.”_

_“Yeah, sure,” she rolled her eyes._

So far, April didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary or crime related. She found it pretty hard to believe that Saki wouldn’t be involved in something shady.


End file.
